A man who cannot get angry is like a stream that cannot overflow, that is always turbid. Sometimes indignation is as good as a thunderstorm in summer, clearing and cooling the air.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Giving advice should come without attachment to whether it is accepted or not.
The quote emphasizes the importance of offering advice without attachment to the outcome. It suggests that true wisdom lies not only in giving honest counsel but also in accepting the autonomy of others to make their own choices without persistent attempts to correct them afterward.
Themes
AdviceWisdomIndifferenceAutonomyCounsel
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about leadership, one might reference this quote to encourage allowing team members their own decision-making.
More from Henry Ward Beecher
All quotes →No one can deal with the hearts of men unless he has the sympathy which is given by love.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
No man can tell if he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
There are joys which long to be ours. God sends ten thousands truths, which come about us like birds seeking inlet; but we are shut up to them, and so they bring us nothing, but sit and sing awhile upon the roof, and then fly away.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. We should live for the future, and yet should find our life in the fidelities of the present; the last is only the method of the first.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
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